This presentation is about the history of Rizal Law. It also introduces the life and works of rizal as well as his two novels the Noli Me Tangere and the El Filibusterismo. At the end of this presentation is an activity that can be used to assess the level of understanding of the students in this subject The life and works of Rizal.

1. GE 9- LIFE AND
WORKS OF DR.
JOSE RIZAL

2. LESSON 1
INTODUCTION TO THE COURSE I

3. OVERVIEW
This lesson will discuss the history of the
Rizal law on how it became an original bill to
recognize the significance of Rizal’s life and
writings. This lesson also summarizes the
content of the said bill to instill heroism among
the youth.

4. LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the
lesson, the
students will be
able to:
1. Explain
the history of the
Rizal Law; and
2. Assess
its important
provisions.
3. Critically
asses the
effectiveness of
the Rizal Course

5. Why study Rizal?
What is the importance of studying Rizal?
Why is Rizal one of the minor subjects taken up in college?
Why is Rizal included in the course outline?
What relevance does Rizal have in college education?

6. Why do we need to Study the Life and
Works of Rizal?
First and foremost, because it is mandated
by law.
Secondly, because of the lessons contained
within the course itself.

7. HISTORY
OF RIZAL
LAW
 In 1956, Senator Claro M.
Recto filed a measure, which
became the original Rizal Bill.
 It was a time when the country
was being ravaged by the
HUKBALAHAP insurgency.

8. But, this was met with firm opposition from
the Catholic Church.
During the 1955 Senate election, the
church charged Recto with being a
communist and an anti-Catholic.

9. After Recto's appointment, the Church sustained to clash
with the bill authorizing the reading of Rizal's novels Noli
Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo, appealing it would
intrude upon freedom of conscience and religion.

10. In the movement to oppose the Rizal bill, the
Catholic Church advised its devotees to write to their
congressmen and senators showing their
disapproval of the bill; later, it organized symposia.
- Fr. Jesus Cavanna- claimed that the novels
belonged to the past
- Jesus Paredes- catholics had the right t refuse to
read them as it would endanger their salvation

11. Groups like Catholic Action of the Philippines, the
Congregation of the Mission, the Knights of
Columbus, and the Catholic Teachers Guild planned
disagreement with the bill; they were countered by
Veteranos de la Revolucion (Spirit of 1896), Alagad
ni Rizal, the Freemasons, and the Knights of Rizal.
The Senate Committee on Education sponsored a
bill co-written by both José P. Laurel and Recto, with
the only opposition coming from Francisco Soc
Rodrigo, Mariano Jesús Cuenco, and Decoroso
Rosales.

12. The Archbishop of Manila, Rufino Santos, protested
in a pastoral letter that Catholic students would be
affected if compulsory reading of the unexpurgated
versions were pushed through. Arsenio Lacson,
Manila's mayor, who supported the bill, walked out of
Mass when the priest read a circular from the
archbishop disparaging the bill.

13. According to Cuenco, Rizal limited himself to
criticizing undeserving priests and refrained from
disapproving, mocking or putting in doubt dogmas of
the Catholic Church, absolutely gratuitous and
misleading.

14. Cuenco touched on Rizal's denial of the existence of
purgatory, as it was not found in the Bible, and that
Moses and Jesus Christ did not mention its
existence; Cuenco concluded that a "majority of the
Members of this Chamber, if not all [including] our
good friend, the gentleman from Sulu believed in
purgatory.”

15. The senator from Sulu, Domocao Alonto, attacked
Filipinos who proclaimed Rizal as "their national hero
but seemed to despise what he had written,” saying
that the Indonesians used Rizal's books as their
Bible on their independence movement; Pedro
López, who hails from Cebu, Cuenco's province, in
his support for the bill, reasoned out that it was in
their province the independence movement started,
when Lapu-Lapu fought Ferdinand Magellan.

16. The church continued its opposition of the bill by
calling all Catholic voters to reject lawmakers who
supported Recto’s Rizal Bill. Pastoral letters were
read in masses voicing opposition. Outside the
Senate, the Catholic schools threatened to close
down if the bill was approved.

17. Recto, however, stood his ground and dared the
Catholic Church to shut down their schools, knowing
that this was only an idle threat since the Catholic
learning institutions were its major source of income.
He also rejected Senator Rodrigo’s suggestion that
the annotated or edited versions of the Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo should be used.

18. After a month-long standoff, a compromise bill
was filed. It was authored by Senator Jose
Laurel and it was based on the proposals of
Senators Roseller Lim and Emmanuel Pelaez.
On June 12, 1956, Republic Act No. 1425,
better known as the Rizal’s Law, came into
effect.

19. REPUBLIC ACT NO. 1425
AN ACT TO INCLUDE IN THE CURRICULA OF ALL
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS, COLLEGES
AND UNIVERSITIES COURSES ON THE LIFE,
WORKS AND WRITINGS OF JOSE RIZAL,
PARTICULARLY HIS NOVELS NOLI ME TANGERE
AND EL FILIBUSTERISMO, AUTHORIZING THE
PRINTING AND DISTRIBUTION THEREOF, AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES

20. SECTION 1. Courses on the life, works and writings of Jose
Rizal, particularly his novel Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo, shall be included in the curricula of all
schools, colleges and universities, public or private:
Provided, That in the collegiate courses, the original or
unexpurgated editions of the Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo or their English translation shall be used as
basic texts.

21. SECTION 2. It shall be obligatory on all schools,
colleges and universities to keep in their libraries an
adequate number of copies of the original and
unexpurgated editions of the Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo, as well as of Rizal’s other works and
biography. The said unexpurgated editions of the Noli
Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo or their translations
in English as well as other writings of Rizal shall be
included in the list of approved books for required
reading in all public or private schools, colleges and
universities.

22. SECTION 3. The Board of National Education
shall cause the translation of the Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo, as well as other
writings of Jose Rizal into English, Tagalog and
the principal Philippine dialects; cause them to
be printed in cheap, popular editions; and
cause them to be distributed, free of charge, to
persons desiring to read them, through the
Purok organizations and Barrio Councils
throughout the country.

23. SECTION 4. Nothing in this Act shall be
construed as amendment or repealing section
nine hundred twenty-seven of the
Administrative Code, prohibiting the discussion
of religious doctrines by public school teachers
and other person engaged in any public school.

24. QUESTIONS?

25. LESSON 3: THE PHILIPPINES IN
THE 19TH CENTURY AS RIZAL’S
CONTEXT I

26. OVERVIEW:
This lesson will discuss the global context during the three
revolutions which affected the local economy and the
politics of the Philippines. Social sciences brought a big
changes in the Philippines in the history which will
discussed in this module.

27. LEARNING OUTCOMES:
– Analyze the three great revolutions;
– Evaluate the influence of social sciences to the intellectual
tradition of the 19th century;
– Explain the status of the churches in the 19th century;

28. By the late 18th century, political and economic changes in
Europe were finally beginning to affect Spain and, thus, the
Philippines. Important as a stimulus to trade was the
gradual elimination of the monopoly enjoyed by the galleon
to Acapulco. The last galleon arrived in Manila in 1815, and
by the mid-1830s Manila was open to foreign merchants
almost without restriction. The demand for Philippine sugar
and abaca (hemp) grew apace, and the volume of exports
to Europe expanded even further after the completion of the
Suez Canal in 1869.

29. The growth of commercial agriculture resulted in the
appearance of a new class. Alongside the landholdings of
the church and the rice estates of the pre-Spanish nobility
there arose haciendas of coffee, hemp, and sugar, often the
property of enterprising Chinese-Filipino mestizos. Some of
the families that gained prominence in the 19th century
have continued to play an important role in Philippine
economics and politics.

30. Not until 1863 was there public education in the Philippines,
and even then the church controlled the curriculum. Less
than one-fifth of those who went to school could read and
write Spanish, and far fewer could speak it properly. The
limited higher education in the colony was entirely under
clerical direction, but by the 1880s many sons of the
wealthy were sent to Europe to study. There, nationalism
and a passion for reform blossomed in the liberal
atmosphere. Out of this talented group of overseas Filipino
students arose what came to be known as the Propaganda

31. Jose Rizal, this movement’s most brilliant figure, produced
two political novels—Noli Me Tangere (1887; Touch Me Not)
and El Filibusterismo (1891; The Reign of Greed)—which
had a wide impact in the Philippines. In 1892, Rizal returned
home and formed the Liga Filipina, a modest reform-minded
society, loyal to Spain that breathed no word of
independence. But Rizal was quickly arrested by the overly
fearful Spanish, exiled to a remote island in the south, and
finally executed in 1896. Meanwhile, within the Philippines
there had developed a firm commitment to independence

32. Shocked by the arrest of Rizal in 1892, these activists
quickly formed the Katipunan under the leadership of
Andres Bonifacio, a self-educated warehouseman. The
Katipunan was dedicated to the expulsion of the Spanish
from the islands, and preparations were made for armed
revolt. Filipino rebels had been numerous in the history of
Spanish rule, but now for the first time they were inspired by
nationalist ambitions and possessed the education needed
to make success a real possibility.

33. Probably the preliminary stage in the development of
national consciousness was reached when indios realized
that they have something in common, that is, a common
grievance against the Spaniards. Our national hero, Dr.
Jose Rizal, was the first to think the Indios as one nation
when he first used the word “Filipino” to refer to all
inhabitants in the country whether they are of Spanish or
Filipino blood. During the Spanish period, the native
inhabitants were called “Indios” while only the inhabitants
with Spanish blood (peninsulares, insulares or mestizos)

34. THE GLOBAL CONTEXT: THE THREE
GREAT REVOLUTIONS
Conversely, one cannot fully understand Rizal’s thought
without understanding the social and political context of the
19th century. Social scientists marked the 19th century as
the birth of modern life as well as the birth of many nation-
states around the world. The birth of modernity was
precipitated by three great revolutions around the world: the
Industrial revolution in England, the French Revolution in
France and the American Revolution.

35. Industrial Revolution
The industrial revolution is basically an economic revolution
which started with the invention of steam engine and
resulted to the use of machinery in the manufacturing sector
in the cities of Europe. It has changed the economy of
Europe from feudalism—an economic system which relied
on land and agriculture--to capitalism which relied on
machinery and wage labor. The merchants of Europe who
became rich through trade became the early capitalists of
this emerging economy. Farmers from rural areas migrated
to the cities and became industrial workers while their wives

36. The economic opportunities created by the Industrial Revolution
had encouraged Spain in 1834 to open the Philippine economy
to world commerce. As a result, new cities and ports were built.
Foreign firms increased rapidly. Foreigners were allowed to
engage in manufacturing and agriculture. Merchant banks and
financial institutions were also established. The British and
Americans improved agricultural machinery for sugar milling and
rice hulling and introduced new methods of farming. The
presence of these foreign traders stimulated agricultural
production, particularly sugar, rice, hemp, and—once the
government monopoly was removed in 1882—tobacco. Indeed,
the abolition of restrictions on foreign trade has produced a
balanced and dynamic economy of the Philippines during the